Gunnison Copper provides construction update for Johnson Camp Mine, Arizona

Gunnison Copper Corp. [TSX: GCU; OTCQB: GCUMF; FSE: 3XS] provided a construction update for the fully permitted Johnson Camp Mine (JCM), southeast Arizona.

Further to the last update where it was announced the mining fleet had been mobilized, and mining activities such as pre-stripping had begun, the Company is pleased to report JCM construction activities are progressing well and on track to produce cathode in Q3 2025.

Mining of mineralized material commenced in January 2025 and is being stockpiled in advance of the completion of the leach pad. Leach pad phase-1 is complete, and phase-2 of the leach pad follows closely behind. With phase-2 advancement we will begin installing Nuton’s processing equipment and ultimately start stacking sulfide and oxide production mineralized material.

The company has completely redesigned and constructed a modern laboratory for on-site material and process analysis. The lab will begin ramping up in April and will be commissioned once production from the leach pad commences. In addition, the company’s HR group is progressing with its staffing plan, with a focus on hiring locally, and has added exceptional talent to the Gunnison team.

“The fast pace at which our construction partners continue to progress the Johnson Camp project is nothing short of impressive. In roughly 12 months we will have transformed Gunnison Copper into a nimble open pit copper producer with a future as bright as the Arizona sky we enjoy daily,” noted Robert Winton, SVP Operations of the company.

In other news, Stephen Axcell has retired as a director of the company effective March 20, 2025.

Gunnison Copper Corp. is a multi-asset pure-play copper developer and producer that controls the Cochise Mining District (the district), containing 12 known deposits within an 8 km economic radius, in the Southern Arizona Copper Belt.

Gunnison exists to develop and operate copper mines in Southern Arizona to produce fully Made in America finished copper cathode to directly supply American energy, defense, and manufacturing supply chains.

Its flagship asset, the Gunnison Copper Project, has a measured and indicated mineral resource containing over 831 million tons with a total copper grade of 0.31% (measured mineral resource of 191.3 million tons at 0.37% and indicated mineral resource of 640.2 million tons at 0.29%), and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) yielding robust economics including an NPV8% of $1.3Billion, IRR of 20.9%, and payback period of 4.1 years. It is being developed as a conventional operation with open pit mining, heap leach, and SX/EW refinery to produce finished copper cathode on-site with direct rail link.

The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the conclusions reached in the PEA will be realized.

In addition, Gunnison’s Johnson Camp Asset, which is under construction with first copper production expected in Q3 2025, is fully funded by Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto Venture, with a production capacity of up to 25 million lbs of finished copper cathode annually.

Other significant deposits controlled by Gunnison in the district, with potential to be economic satellite feeder deposits for Gunnison Project infrastructure, include Strong and Harris, South Star, and eight other deposits.

At the core of Nuton is a portfolio of proprietary copper leaching technologies and capability. Nuton has the potential to economically unlock copper from hard-to-leach ores, including primary sulfides and, in doing so, increase domestic production of critical minerals to support the energy transition.

With significantly lower energy and water needs than conventional concentrating and smelting, and the ability to produce copper cathode at the mine site, Nuton offers a reliable source of domestically produced copper, with a short mine-to-metal supply chain and the ambition to set industry-leading ESG credentials.